Atlanta's Top 10 Athletes

Larry Wayne Jones Jr. and Henry Louis Aaron

This week, the Mets are in Atlanta to play the Braves.

Atlanta's Top 10 Athletes

No Atlanta Flames players are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Bernie Geoffrion was a Hall of Fame player in Montreal before becoming an Atlanta coach and executive, but nothing he did in Atlanta is part of his qualifications. The only Atlanta Thrashers in the Hall are Mark Recchi and Chris Chelios, and, between them, they played 60 games for the team. (To put it another way: Chelios played the last 7 games of his career for the Thrashers, out of 1,651, or 0.4 percent of his games.)

Honorable Mention to Atlanta Braves in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but not otherwise making this Top 10: Joe Torre (very good player but elected as a manager) and Bruce Sutter (better known for other teams).

Honorable Mention to Atlanta Hawks in the Basketball Hall of Fame, who didn't otherwise make the Top 10: Walt Bellamy (only 4 seasons), Moses Malone (3) and Dikembe Mutombo (5). All 3 of those guys are better known for playing for other teams.

Morten Andersen played 8 seasons in Atlanta, and is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but he was a kicker, and he's better remembered as a member of the Falcons' arch-rivals, the New Orleans Saints.

10 Pete Maravich, guard, Atlanta Hawks, 1970-74. He wasn't a man amongst boys as he was in college, but he was still pretty good in the NBA in the Seventies, first in Atlanta and then in New Orleans, before injuries caught up with him. The Hawks retired his Number 44, and he was named to the Basketball Hall of Fame and the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players.

9. Deion Sanders, cornerback, Atlanta Falcons, 1989-93. Had he spent his entire career in Atlanta, he would be seriously challenging Hank Aaron for the title of Atlanta's greatest athlete, because Hank didn't spend his entire career in Atlanta, either.

Deion is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Falcons' Ring of Honor, but does not have his Number 21 retired. In 1999, while he was still active, The Sporting News ranked him 37th on their list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. In 2010, the NFL Network promoted him to 34th on their list of the 100 Greatest Players.

8. Claude Humphrey, defensive end, Atlanta Falcons, 1968-78. He made 6 Pro Bowls for the Falcons' Grits Blitz defense, then went to the Eagles and helped them reach Super Bowl XV. He's been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Falcons' Ring of Honor.

7. Dominique Wilkins, forward, Atlanta Hawks, 1982-94. Take away Michael Jordan's Nike contract and Scottie Pippen, and what have you got? A dunk artist who never got close to an NBA title. In other words, you've got 'Nique. Nevertheless, he is the greatest contributor to the Hawks in the half-century-plus since Bob Pettit retired (in St. Louis), and his Number 21 is retired. Though that saying about a road being named "The Dominique Wilkins Highway" is just a joke, so people can say that no passing is allowed.

6. Chipper Jones, 3rd base, Atlanta Braves, 1993-2012. A 141 OPS+, 468 home runs thus far, 549 doubles, 2,726 hits, 8 All-Star berths, the 1999 NL MVP, and 12 postseason appearances... but only 1 ring.

Still, if any player is the symbol of the Braves' "dynasty," it's Larry Wayne Jones Jr., not any of their great pitcher. The Braves have retired his Number 10, and he's in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

5. John Smoltz, pitcher, Atlanta Braves, 1988-2008. He may have been the Number 3 pitcher behind Maddux and Glavine for years and years, but he shouldn't take a back seat to anyone. From the ages of 22 to 32, he was one of the best starters in baseball, topping out at 24-8 – winning 29 games counting the All-Star Game and the postseason, most since Denny McLain's 32 in 1968 – with 276 strikeouts in 1996, winning the NL Cy Young Award.

At 33, an injury kept him out all season. From 34 to 37, he was one of the game's best relievers, setting the NL record which still stands with 55 saves in 2002. At 38, 39 and 40, he was again one of baseball's top relievers, going 16-9 in 2006 – though it says something about the way the game has changed that his 16 wins were enough to lead the NL that season.

He was an 8-time All-Star. He won 213 games (losing just 155) and saving 154 others. His career ERA+ is 125, his WHIP 1.176. He is a member of the 3,000 Strikeout Club. And he reached the postseason 14 times (13 with the Atlanta Braves, not counting 2000 when he was hurt all season, and the last with the Cardinals), and his 15 postseason wins are 2nd all-time to Andy Pettitte, against just 4 losses.

However, he has only one World Championship, with the '95 Braves. Don’t blame him, however. In 1991 he pitched 9 shutout innings in Game 7 before the bullpen lost to the Twins. And 2 of those losses were in the World Series to the Yankees, to Pettitte in Game 5 in '96 and Roger Clemens in Game 4 in '99.

The Braves have retired his Number 29. He has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. And a friend of his named Eldrick "Tiger" Woods, who knows something about playing golf in the State of Georgia, says that he was the best golfer in baseball.

4. Phil Niekro, pitcher, Atlanta Braves, 1966-83, with a 1-game return in 1987. The last active player for the Milwaukee Braves, he was the master of the knuckleball, and a member of the 300 Win and 3,000 Strikeout Clubs. With his brother Joe, he formed the winningest brother combination ever. Hall of Fame, Number 35 retired, statue outside Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium moved to Turner Field and SunTrust Park.

3. Tom Glavine, pitcher, Atlanta Braves, 1987-2002, with a brief return in 2008. A 10-time All-Star, he led the National League in wins 5 times. He won the NL Cy Young Award in 1991 and 1998. He helped the Braves reach the postseason 12 times. He won Pennants with the Braves in 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996 and 1998. When they won their only World Series in Atlanta in 1995, he was named the Most Valuable Player.

Met fans will remember his horrendous season finale in 2007 more than how he contributed to their near-Pennant in 2006. Greg Prince, of the blog Faith and Fear In Flushing, named him "The Manchurian Brave" -- as if the Braves, rather than the Phillies (or the Yankees) were the Mets' true rivals. But he won 305 games, with 2,607 strikeouts. The Braves retired his Number 47, and he has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

2. Greg Maddux, pitcher, Atlanta Braves, 1993-2003. I considered putting him at Number 1, but he didn't spend his entire career in Atlanta, either. An 8-time All-Star, he won 4 straight National League Cy Young Awards, from 1992 to 1995. He won more Gold Gloves for fielding excellence than any other player, 18, from 1990 to 2008 wnning every year but 2003.

He reached the postseason with the Chicago Cubs in 1989, with the Atlanta Braves in 1993 and then every season from 1995 to 2003, and in his last season, 2008, with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He won Pennants with the Braves in 1995, 1996 and 1999, including winning the 1995 World Series.

Despite not having a great fastball, he used an array of breaking pitches to strike out 3,371 batters, and build a record of 355-227, making him the winningest living pitcher. Both the Cubs and the Braves retired his Number 31, and he was easily elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his 1st year of eligibility.

1. Hank Aaron, right field, Atlanta Braves, 1966-74. He only spent 9 seasons in Atlanta, but he is still an easy choice. He was a legitimate All-Star in all of those seasons. Of his 3,771 career hits, 1,334 came in Atlanta. Of his 755 career home runs, 335 came in Atlanta, including his 500th, 600th, 700th and 715th.

The Braves retired his Number 44, dedicated a statue of him that is now outside a 3rd separate ballpark, and the addresses of their last 2 ballparks refer to his home run total: Turner Field was at 755 Hank Aaron Way, and SunTrust Park is at 755 Battery Avenue Southeast.

He and Babe Ruth are the only individual players to have an exhibit all to themselves at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, to which he was elected in his 1st year of eligibility. He came in 5th on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was easily elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. In 2002, George W. Bush awarded him the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.